Animal-feeding device



E. S. JOHNSON.

ANIMAL FEEDING DEVICE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY20, 1919.

1,389,763. Patented May 11,1920.

E if 6. i inventor,

. frnesgf 15.!772726 a 16 m 4 a O y ERNEST S. OHNSON, OF WEBSTER CITY, IOWA.

ANIMAL-FEEDING DEVICE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 11, 1920.

Application filed May 20, 1919. Serial No. 298,400.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNEST S. JOHNSON, a citizen of the United States of America, anda resident of Webster City, Hamilton county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Animal-Feeding Devices, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in animal feeding devices, particularly to those which have an open top feeding trough supplied with a plurality of independently movable closures, and the object of my 1mprovement is to provide an improved method and construction of hingedly connecting said closures to thedevice, including means for preventing passage of 111015- ture downwardly into the trough between the closures.

This object I have, accomplished by the means which arehereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a perspective view of an animal feeding device containing my said improvements; Fig. 2 is an enlarged plan of two adjacent closures, showing their hinges andone of the drainage devices associated therewith; Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section of the structures shown in said Fig. 2, taken on the broken line 3-3; Fig. 4 is an under plan view of one of said closures; Fig. 5 is a perspective detail view showingsaid hinging and drainage means as associated with one of the closures, with parts broken away, and Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-section of the closure shown in said Fig. 4, taken on the broken line 6-6 thereof.

Similar numerals of reference denote corresponding parts throughout the several views.

In Fig. 1, is shown feed hopper 2 supported on end standards 1 and having a feeding trough below and in communication with it whose outer portion is open at the to 21 beam 3 is fixed to the lower end of the outer wall of said hopper to support a plurality of longitudinally alined like hinged closures 5 whose outer ends project a short distance beyond the outer wall 6 of the trough to permit an animal to easily push-them upwardly in gaining access to the interior of the trough.

The closures 5 may be made of any desired material, but as shown, are made of metal plates. One end of each closure is scrolled at 8 to receive a pintle rod 9 which is but little longer than the closure is wide, and the scroll 8 is cut away a short distance at each end to expose the end portions of said rod. The side, portions of the .closure are bent downwardly and folded to provided the doubled flanges 10, and the other end part of the closure is bent over downwardly to 'form a single thickness flange 11, a strip of board 12 being mounted next to the flange 11 between the flanges 10 and secured to the closure to stiffen the latter and add to its weight. The under parts of the opposite ends of the board 12 are beveled at 13.

Hinge connections for the closures to the longitudinal beam 3 are provided. These consist of a plate 4 secured vertically on the outer face of the beam3 by screws 15. The plate 4 forms the upwardlybent extension of an upwardly channeled plate 17, the latter extending transversely across the top of the feeding trough slopingly and resting upon the upper edge of the outer wall 6 of the feed trough.

- The numeral 14 denotes another plate of the same shape as the plate 4, mounted upon the latter and secured thereto and to the beam 3 with the same screws 15. The lower part of the plate 14 is scrolled at 16 to re-.

hingedly rock therein. It will be seen that 9 when the screws 15 are removed, the plates 14 may also be removed to permit independent separation of the closure 5 without disturbing the other closures.

The plate 17 is formed into the channel by bending upwardly its longitudinal edges to form flanges 18. When the closures 5 are hinged to the beam 3 by the means shown, the closure flanges 10 are seated within the channel of the plate 17 near the flanges 18 as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, with the adjacent flanges 10 of the adjacent closures 5 somewhat spaced apart.

As the channeled elements 17 extend beyond the side edges of the closures 5, they catch all drippings therefrom and convey the same away, so that moisture cannot penetrate between the closures or rain beat in to injure the contents of the feed trough.

The details of this invention may be varied without departing from its scope.

Instead of a plurality of alined pintle closures, without departing from-the invention.

claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is: a 1. In feed trough covering means, an inclined imperforate closure for a feed trough, hinged to swing vertically, and having a depending lateral marginal flange, and a transverse conduit supported across said feed trough into which the said marginal flange extends when theclosure is lowered. 2. In feed trough covering means, an inclined imperforate closure for a feed trough hinged to swing vertically, and a transverse inclined plate extended across and supported on said trough, having an upwardly directed lateral marginal flange positioned Having described my invention, what I under the adjacent and overlying part ofporting structure comprising alined scrolls mounted on the structure, a scroll mounted on the closure and alined with and between the first-mentioned scrolls, independent removable pintles within and connecting abutting scrolls, and an inclined plate mounted across said feed trough and having raised lateral flanges positioned beneath abutting parts of said closures to serve as a drainage conduit therebetween.

Si ned at Webster City, 1a., this 6th day of ay, 1919.

ERNEST S. JOHNSON. 

